You’ve probably heard many stories about poor customer service at businesses or other organizations. Some of the root causes of poor service include the following:
- Companies have run reduced payrolls since the Great Recession in 2009.
- Labor shortages mean that not all positions can be filled, and it is harder to train everyone properly.
- Automation is used to replace customer service personnel on the phone.
- Larger companies outsource customer service to call centers overseas.
- Online automation results in fewer personal interactions.
While there are many bad stories out there relating to Customer Service, I would like to focus on what outstanding service looks like in the printing industry. Here are five examples of excellent customer service we have done as a company over the last decade.
A Printing Company’s Examples of Excellent Customer Service!
1. Always have a person answer the phone during working hours
This may seem basic, but personal service is next to impossible if there is no person on the line. At The Print Authority, if you call between 8 am and 5 pm Monday through Friday, a person will answer your phone call.
We recently got a new phone system. You will indeed reach a voice mail eventually if no one answers within a certain number of rings. However, our team is trained to answer the phone within three rings, and I would estimate that 99% of calls during working hours go straight to a qualified person!
2. Give people the benefit of the doubt in your production process
In the old days, printing companies used to structure their proofing process to make sure every customer signed off on and was responsible for their order. While we still make proofs an integral part of our process, we go above and beyond.
For example, we try to notice if there are typos in a document. That way, we can inform the client before a document with mistakes is printed. We take responsibility for checking whether things look good, regardless of who designed the artwork. This does not mean we redo things willy nilly, but it does mean we take personal notice of jobs in our operation and try to notify the customer if something seems wrong.
3. Get all the details at the beginning of the process so you can meet or exceed expectations
Although we are sometimes accused of being inquisitive, all members of our customer service team are trained to ask questions about jobs before beginning work. We ask about production and artwork details, delivery expectations, and special concerns or considerations for each job. We have a reputation for asking lots of questions because that leads to outstanding results.
In the end, we don’t cut corners. You can be assured that the product that arrives at your door is exactly what you envisioned!
4. Build a team where everyone cares
This can be a tough initiative for a lot of companies. Some businesses struggle to fill their ranks, and don’t worry so much about training, let alone caring.
At The Print Authority, you get an experienced team of long tenure that cares about you as a customer. We have team members who have been here one to three decades in addition to our fresh talent. This gives you the best combination of youth and experience. Further, we have built a culture of continual improvement where we are always trying to lower redos, increase customer happiness, and better our results.
5. Go above and beyond in making things right!
It’s important to empower employees to make customers happy without having them go through a lot of red tape.
Another example was not charging for a job where the outcome was unsatisfactory—even when the customer’s design may have been part of the problem. At the end of the day, we wanted to make the customer happy. That’s why we always focus on fixing problems proactively!
Work With a Premier Printing Company!
Would you like to experience our first class service yourself?
The Print Authority is a 29-year-old printing company with a heart with many examples of excellent customer service. We are experts in the area of web-to-print and printing fulfillment. Contact us for more information by email, contact form, or phone call, and experience what we can do for you!
